This invention relates to inflatable and deflatable luggage that is semi-rigid in its inflated form and collapsible in its deflated form for convenient storage.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is particularly directed to lightweight, sturdy, inexpensive pieces of luggage of most any size, shape or form, that are preferrably fabricated of flexible, heat sealable material which is impervious to the passage of air or moisture. Vinyl, polyethylene or other plastic coated or impregnated material together with rubberized materials are suitable for such luggage. Selected walls and in some embodiments the cover pieces of such luggage are provided with communicating air chambers and passages which when inflated are adapted to support and maintain the walls and cover piece in semi-rigid, expanded relationship as determined by the configuration of the luggage piece. When deflated, the air chamber and passageways collapse and may be folded flat or rolled into a compact package for storing in a suitable container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore several types of inflatable luggage have been devised for carrying personal items such as clothing, business papers and other paraphernalia.
These prior art inflatable luggage pieces utilized air chambers located in certain walls of the structure and rigid sheet material in other walls, such as their bottom, top or cover portions to provide the necessary rigidity required. The rigid sheet material, however, hindered total collapse of the luggage piece when its air chambers were deflated and restricted its capability of being rolled up or folded into a relatively small compact package for storage.
The air-chambers of such luggage pieces were inflated with a supply of pressurized air through a suitably built-in valve means. In most instances, sufficient air to inflate the air chambers had to be forced in with separate pump means to obtain the desired inflation. In addition, a source of air under pressure separate from the luggage was needed each time the luggage was inflated.